Blog of Aestheticized Violence.
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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

L.A. Noire: The Gangster Era from a Cop's Perspective

As I've been watching the NBA Playoffs, a new video game called L.A. Noire has appeared in several commercials. The ads are unique in that they are shown in a film-like manner, which leaves the viewer a little confused as to how the player integrates into the plot. Interestingly, the game is actually going to appear at the Tribeca Film Festival. Upon further research, I found that the gameplay is centered around the life of a LAPD officer as he fights crime, progresses through the ranks, and attempts to make-up for the violence he inflicted as a soldier in WWII.

As a fan of The Godfather, the gangster era has always interested me and this game captures the street life in a very realistic way. I look forward to playing the game when it debuts and expect nothing but the best from Rockstar Games, the developer and publisher of L.A. Noire. Rather than being the gangster, it will be interesting to control the violence through detective work in Los Angeles. Violence against violence in a Grand Theft Auto-esque gameplay can only produce hours of un.

7 comments:

Man, this game looks sick! I find it pretty cool as well that it will be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival. Video game as a media and mode of artistic expression is starting to become more and more apparent. Games like Metal Gear Solid 4 are prime examples of games that focus on realism and plot depth to the extent that it is comparable to a novel or movie- or both. L.A. Noire specifically reminds me of a game called Dead Rain which highlighted the ability to determine the outcome of the game lies in the choices your character makes. Dead Rain in a lot of ways is like L.A. noire in that you both play as detectives at some point and the game's storytelling is explicitly noire. However, the presence of games like these is a larger sign that video games may very well become a respectable art form.

I do think this looks like a fun game and seems really in depth and interesting. However, it seems almost too complicated for the average gamer. It looks like you need to go around looking for clues and research your notes and do a lot of other things that are the not so glamorous part of being a cop. This reminds me of the Splinter Cell games that I used to love to play. None of my friends liked to play Splinter Cell because it involved patience. Lots and lots of patience. You basically had to sneak around everywhere, slowly and silently dispatching numerous guards as you unraveled a mystery about terrorism or something of that nature. I hope people dont react the same way to L.A. Noire like my friends did to Splinter Cell. I hope they just appreciate it for being such a well made game, but you never really know with kids these days.

I've seen multiple commercials for this game as well, all during the NBA Playoffs. The company is clearly advertising this game to the young adult male demographic (ages 18-35). I think this game will be a rousing success, simply because a lot of men will want to experience what it's like to be a cop/detective without actually having to sign up to wear the blue. Games with intense storylines are always good, because you know you're working towards something as you get further along in the game. I'll definitely give L.A. Noire a shot, no pun intended.

Are violent video games any different when the role of the character is a police officer? In most cases we studied in class, our violent games were senseless and unnecessary, however, L.A. Noire is the opposite of Grand Theft Auto in that the player is trying to maintain peace and pursue justice. Should this change the rating? Isn't this teaching kids the right way to act? I know someone would bring up Call of Duty since your another agent of the government but most of times your killing other players online.

This game looks really interesting and I'm glad to see Rockstar continue to push boundaries. I'm not quite sure what to expect though, because once you play a mission once and fail, what happens next? Do you just keep bringing the same person back for questioning over and over until you get it right? It's a really cool idea, but it's hard to imagine in action without breaking the 4th wall all the time.

I can’t wait to play this game too. Video games really are making great strides towards being accepted as a legitimate artform lately. One of the biggest signs of this trend I’ve seen is that even Steven Spielberg is planning on delving seriously into the world of video games and is going to design his own games for Electronic Arts.

This seams like an interesting take on the sand box game genre. As much as I loved GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas, GTA IV, and Red Dead, the whole genre has been getting quite stale in my opinion. Hopefully the clue finding mechanic will be more interesting the drive-here-kill-this-person-drive -back mechanic